Discovering the fun of GDGD tuning

After replying to a thread in the Bluegrass section about a tune called "Basset Creek", I tuned one of my mandolins to GDGD and was really taken with the sound. I talked to a friend in NC who plays a lot of cross tuned fiddle tunes and he sent me a list of tunes he plays. I already know quite a few in standard tuning, so it has been fun figuring them out in GDGD.

Tunes my friend suggested...
June Apple
Little Billy Wilson
Boatman
Sandy Boys
Sail away Ladies
Sandy River Bell
Tater patch, to name a few.

Also, any G tune I happen to like. :)

Wondering if any other folks here are using this tuning?

I got obsessed with crosstuning for awhile. I liked GDGD better than AEAE. Sounds like you have a good tune list going. Check out Mike Compton playing Jenny Lynn to hear how much fun crosstuning can be. You can play all the strings all the time and make a bunch of noise. :mandosmiley: I've included a few videos I made too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyFC7PZ6jiI



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYi4TmDvPCI



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdpZqa81Upo



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaulrhWzGss



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C681u8cuIv4

I have one mandolin I keep in GDGD, or right now I think its in AEAE. Same thing really. That way the the standard tuned mandolin does not need to be retuned and stressed, and the cross mandolin can stay in cross and maybe settle in there.

Thanks Don! I watched you videos on youtube and thank you. Your version of "Sandy River Belle" is quite different then the one I know, I will have to dig into that one.

I watched a Mandolesson done by Baron Collins-Hill about cross tuning a mandolin and he suggested if you want to play in AEAE tuning, just tune to GDGD and capo at the second fret. His concern was about tuning the mandolin up to A. I agree with him on that point.

One thing I have noticed is that I now spend a fair amount of time noodling searching for new tunes the mandolin has to offer. :grin:

Skip Gorman's "Mandolin in the Cow Camp" features several tunes in alternate tunings. Very inspiring CD from Skip--I think I got my version of Sandy River Belle from that CD.

Noodling is quite fun in GDGD--everything sounds good with all those drones going on. Enjoy!

One question to Charles E. I notice that of all the tunes you list, and which I also happen to know, I play in the key of A. So what are you doing? Are you tuning to open G, and then playing these A tunes in A, or are you transposing them to G?

Hey Jim, Those tunes are ones that a friend (who I used to play with ) gave as examples of ones he plays in cross tuning. I think in the fiddle world AEAE is far more common then GDGD. I just started this journey so all tunes are played in GDGD. If I ever have a chance to play with other people again and want to play these tunes in A, I would just capo at the second fret to get AEAE.

I don't cross tune my mandolins - it's hard enough getting GDAE right. I play fiddle double. Playing with fiddles when they're in AEAE is almost seamless (to my ears, anyway), but I usually groan when the fiddles go to GDGD and play "A" tunes. With a stiff upper lip, I try to relearn the fingerings on the fly, and frankly, I almost welcome the experience now because of the mental exercise it provides. "Take away a man's muscle memory, and what's he got left?" I play a 1913 Gibson F-2 and a 1912(?) Fairbanks-Vega Tu-ba-phone style S Banjo-mandolin.

Thanks for bringing this old thread back up. I love playing cross-A (and sometimes cross-G) tunes on my fiddle, but hadn’t even considered that on mandolin because of the high string tension. But maybe I’ll try cross-G on my older mando. On fiddle I play almost all A tunes in cross. A couple of my favorites are Jeff Sturgeon and Trouble on the Mind—both, John Salyer tunes.

I just watched all those videos above. I never looked at this when it first was being discussed, because I was only a handful of months into playing - didn't even have a clue what a drone is, ha ha. Alternate tuning? My head might explode !

Now, I really like that sound. And have extra mandolins hanging around. Do you have to change strings to do this? Not that I need any more additional musical projects to work on, but hey, you only go around once :mandosmiley:

Sue, you don't need to change strings. I'd recommend trying GDGD. Once you figure out the melody on the high strings, it's exactly the same on the low strings. And you can play all the strings all the time if you want and create a big sound. Have fun with it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Don Grieser

Have fun with it.

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The important part!

I totally forgot I started this thread three years ago. I'll have to retune one of my mandolins to GDGD and have another go at it. :grin:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Charles E.

I totally forgot I started this thread three years ago. I'll have to retune one of my mandolins to GDGD and have another go at it. :grin:

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I recently tuned one of my octave mandolins to AEAE as I’ve been learning Farewell Whiskey which is usually played cross A on the fiddle. I was particularly interested in playing the harmonics that are an integral part of the fiddle tune on the octave, and having it cross tuned made it possible to play the harmonics on all four courses of strings. I might just have to keep one octave mando cross tuned…I’m loving the possibilities this tuning provides!

For reference, here are Tatiana Hargeaves and Alison De Groot playing the tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q4tT04yxLo

Pete